Zephyr is "the west wind." For Americans, west represents what's next. The trends that will make life better, more enjoyable, more interesting, lie over the western horizon. It's also from where we expect innovations that give us what's new and best. The great Zephyr trains symbolized accessible luxury for traveling North America, opening a vast opportunity landscape to restless people no longer willing to be left behind. Seymour Duncan is restless to create the next great sounds for guitar, relentlessly working to make expressive tone affordable, but willing to accept that sometimes what's next costs more.

Zephyr products make new sounds Seymour Duncan likes. They're different. They represent a view of what's next for guitar. They are premium offerings made only for people who want them, whether that's five or five thousand.

Silver Wire CoilsKnown as "The Great Conductor" among metals, silver and silver-plated wire's sonic excellence is well established in high fidelity audio applications, including moving coil phono cartridges, vacuum tube amplifier output transformers and cabling. Just as silver in audio makes music reproduction more convincing and alive, in pickup coils it gives your guitar punchier, jumpier, burstier feel with harmonically dense, dripping tone.

Nickel and Stainless Steel Bi-Metallic Pole PiecesCombining these two premier transformer metals to shape and focus the magnetic field disturbed by your guitar's vibrating strings further contributes to the vivid, energetic sound of Zephyr Silver.

Glass Fiberfill Nylon BobbinEvery dialectric material imparts its own sonic properties. In listening tests of new, more stable bobbin materials, we chose glass-filled nylon for slight advantages in definition and detail, as well as excellent material stability and consistent finish.

Cryogenic TreatmentSupercooling materials renders permanent improvement to their grain structure. Also an established enhancement in high-end audio, where cable, vacuum tubes and even entire electronic components are cryogenically treated for improvements in clarity and realism, we achieved similar results for guitar tone by cryogenically treating completed pickups, copper and silver alike. Cryo treatment enhances string definition and boosts the "way huge" potential of your guitar.

In combination they lend the premium Zephyr Silver pickups uniquely fast transients, wider but smooth frequency response, deeply rich harmonics, and unprecedented midrange tone density, with audible gains in string detail, articulation and overall definition. Slighter touch produces expressive sound, yet peak dynamics are more explosive, making your guitar feel more energetic and alive. Seymour Duncan considers Zephyr Silver the most expressive pickups so far. They are not inexpensive, but from squeaky clean to buzzsaw grind, you'll hear and feel more power, projection and expression from any electric guitar.

FEATURES Pure Silver Magnet Wire

Lowest resistance of any metal known, 5.36% lower than copper

Lower losses throughout the frequency spectrum, especially in the higher ranges

My friend actually bought a set of these. I must divulge he is more monetarily endowed than myself. I thought he was an idiot, but figured I finally got the chance to try one, so that's a plus for me. Not so much for him.. and here's why....

These are just as predictable and savvy as a regular guitar pickup. In fact, I dare say these ARE just regular guitar pickups. Nothing I heard over my Blackstar stack through these was anything noteworthy beyond what I have heard from other pickups. My Jackson J50BC in my RRJ2SP had more organic quality. And not to mention Seymour Duncan's complete lack of grasping string spacing differences. These did not fit the string spacing of my friend's Jackson. They were too narrow, meaning regardless of how "superior" these are, the bobbins were not lined up and he will forever be sapped of sustain and tone for it. And with no spacing alternatives, he's stuck with it. In fact, most Duncan users are stuck with it. SD has failed to recognize the enormous diversity of string spacings, a grasp that Larry DiMarzio has more than adequately gathered.

Final words: These are not worth any more than a typical pickup. The sound and quality saved by these is more than overshadowed by their price and lack of diversity. Seymour Duncan should learn to make REGULAR pickups before trying to attempt a pickup such as this. These are best used as a means of pawning rare materials, but even silver doesnt fetch a market price like these... and the famous moniker All That Glitters Is Not Gold rings true and clear as ever before. I can sum this up even more quickly, however:

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